Camp starts this week, at least for staff, and has been taking up just about every waking moment of my life. Between that and getting a few projects finished up (some to finish my contract for NLS), I haven't had much time, and I feel bad, I miss updating my blog. The kids for National Camp School are there, hopefully having a blast and learning all kinds of things, we have Beaver Day and national inspection, and then it should be fairly smooth sailing for the rest of the summer.

I leave Wednesday morning for camp, and I'll be crazy busy until Scott and Karen's wedding, but it's still exciting. Hopefully I can keep some sanity by the time that point comes around. I'll have limited internet access, the same as last year, so I'll be updating when I can.

I've also been writing for Pittsburgh Metblogs, which is a group of bloggers from Pittsburgh, writing about the Burgh. Pop in, leave us some comments and join the discussion, it's a blast, and there is an entire network of Metblog cities (if URU was still around, I would try to start one up for us, as Azeroth is the only "Other Land" at the moment).

Last weekend was the first I had to myself after four weekends of camping in a row, which was nice. I went to a graduation party and had a great time. I only knew the grad and five other people (including his parents), but we had a blast. We played boccie and a bird decided to crap on my arm, but after I washed myself off I jumped back in and the team of me and the grad won.

The weekend before was Spring Ceremonial. We had a very successful Vigil, and after cleaning up, I ended up helping in the kitchen. At one point I was standing in front of a food service grill will upwards of 30 pounds of onions, cooking them with a spatula. Someone walked in and honest to goodness asked me, "So what, are you cooking onions?"

I turned to them and just said, "No," and then went back to flipping them with the spatula.

In other news, Joss Whedon will be back with the previously previewed "Dollhouse" next season. He will also be bringing to the internet, another series, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" IGN has a preview here. Needless to say, I'm excited.

I think that's it for now, hopefully I'll have another post or two before I leave for camp, until then, have a great one!

Script Frenzy is going on this month, a change from last year. They also changed it from 20,000 words to 100 pages, and allowed any kind of script, including television, graphic novel, mini-series, really anything. I didn’t do it this year, I’ll stick with NaNoWriMo for sure, but maybe I’ll pick this up again next year, the month changed caught me off guard, and April just doesn’t really allow me to write all that much.

Last week was the Robotic Hall of Fame induction. There’s a Robotic Hall of Fame you ask? Yes, yes there is, it’s actually at the Carnegie Science Center. No one bothered to tell me this (or apparently anyone else), I would have been there in a heartbeat to see C3P0 inducted by Mark Hamill! Oh well, maybe I’ll make it down sometime in the future to an induction.

WTAE ran a story about how a man was arrested for the fire at the Hollow Tavern, police believe it to be arson. That was what I came up with when it happened: considering everything of value had been taken out of it beforehand. Glad to help Unity Township!

Also, I know it’s been talked about before, but there really is something about Microsoft Word that knows when you really need a document, and then makes sure that it won’t open correctly and forces you to spend half an hour trying to get it to work right. Stupid Microsoft.

Quick update for everyone, I'm actually writing this as I listen to the Pen's game (we're up 1-0 right now).

I accidentally knocked the plant off my desk today, he was fine, and I got him all situated and the carpet all swept up, but I imagine it was a bit traumatic for him.

I got to go to a food show yesterday at the Expo Mart. It was filled with sleazy salesmen (all in awful, matching shirts: lime green with dark green criss-crossing pin stripes, with blue blazers), but had some really good food. I had some good Chinese samples, and an excellent piece of chicken sausage, which tasted like beef, believe it or not.

So URU is gone, so now we turn our attention to the possibility of a Myst Movie. We shall see. I'm excited that they'll be examining the Book of Ti'Anna and the events of The Fall, although I'm still a bit skeptical, but ready to do what I can. And of course, the possibility that URU will come back (if it does, I hope they take some of the fan-suggested changes to heart), but I'm hoping that Cyan does something new, I keep thinking they'll do something futuristic, although I want to learn more of the D'ni (and Ronay). Sigh, someday, I hope. And until then, we still have UO, we'll always have UO!

Update: now it's 1-1

I have more to talk about, but my list is elsewhere, so I'll leave you with two videos. The first has apparantly been used for this type of purpose at other schools, but it's making it's rounds now with a SVC twist.

I'm posting the second since we're in the playoffs, and it's really, really funny (and about a serious subject), but it's not exactly clean, or for viewing at work. You've been warned.

Alright, here's blog post one of three that I promised (I've also included a new movie at the bottom!):

Something that I've noticed that happens at work more often than it should, if someone asks if my boss is in his office and I say that he isn't, or if I respond that he's on the phone, some people still feel the need to walk past my desk and check, as if I would lie to them. I don't understand it at all, there's no reason why I would just make an answer up.

Which brings me to another (and ironic) point about workplace "politics," although this is more about discussions of politics...most people think my generation is stupid and can't be trusted. And to be fair, there are a lot of reasons why that is true (and why I sometimes think it as well), but really, Gen Y (I'm on the edge of the second and third waves, but fit more in the second wave) is doing great things, but we're doing them in different ways, and we need and want different things. Case in point, I know that I'm going to have to work long hours and overtime and even on the weekends (really, I've worked at least a little most weekends), but I don't mind, because I like my job and I'm happy to put in the extra effort, but likewise, I (the plural I, for Gen Y) need to know that I can still have a life at work, since I'm spending most of my time there anyway and that I can take a few minutes when I need to to take care of my life. Eh, ruminations I suppose, it's all findings thats been backed up time and time again by sociologists and psychologists, but I guess the generations will never be able to fully accept one another and how they do things (Gen Y included, it all works both ways).

I got to change two of the flags at work the other day, which was a lot of fun actually. You don't really realize how big the flags are, since they are on appropriately sized flagpoles, but they are huge (I want to say 20 by 15 feet, or somewhere around there). The state flag and the council flag needed repair, so we switched them out.

I don't know if this link will work (it sill should), but an outrageous bill is up for vote in Kentucky, making it illegal for people to post online without providing their real name, address and other information. This is crazy, not only because the internet doesn't just stop at the boundary of the state of Kentucky, but apparently people didn't think this through...what happens when someone hacks into a database (or someone loses another laptop), for say, a Disney site, it would be a breeding ground for child predators and other deviants. Hopefully reason (and financial costs) will prevail and keep this one from being passed.

Another link for you, this time, a link to an article discussing the top 50 blogs in the world. Strangely, I'm not on there...hehehe. But strangely, PostSecret is not on there. I don't know if it was considered art instead of a blog, but I was hoping it would be there.

The NCAA tournament is almost over, but just to clear things up, this year I once again picked a bracket, choosing wins on whichever team sounded cooler, my normal system. Needless to say, I didn't do well, but it was still fun.

Mr. Roger's "Won't you be my Neighbor" day was a few weeks ago, and a lot of people wore sweaters (I forgot mine), even national TV hosts, which is awesome. Also, in case you didn't know, the season 1 DVD of his show comes wrapped in a little red sweater.

And finally, I found out this year that there is such a thing as edible easter grass. I think that is one of the most ingenious inventions and will probably get widespread attention in the next few years.

And as a bonus, here is the trailer for American McGee's upcoming game, Grimm. It's coming to GameTap, so hopefully it will eventually be released for PC and then Wii (a la Sam and Max), since most games stopped working on my computer for whatever reason, and I'm going to cancel anyway since they are stopping URU. It looks cool though, so hopefully it's something we'll see on the Wii.

Happy Pi Day! Everyone should go out and eat some pie…or think about 3.1415927 (and so on and on, that’s all I know off the top of my head). Written on Pi day, uploaded later

More political updates (wow, for as much as I dislike politics, I sure do blog about it at lot): Clinton is now receiving endorsements from Mayor Ravenstahl and County Executive Onorato. Combined with Governor Rendell’s endorsement, I’m honestly surprised her ranking hasn’t plummeted more in Pennsylvania. Considering how much everyone dislikes Rendell (the Governor of Philthadelphia) and Onorato (see: Onorato drink tax), you would think that candidates would ask to not be endorsed. And I like Mayor Luke, although he’s made some really dumb decisions (almost it seems out of childish retaliation because of how city council treated him, but I really do think if he continues to turn it around, he’s what the city needs), but then again, maybe people don’t even really pay attention to endorsements anymore.

So I’ve been trying to keep my work e-mail inbox as slim as possible, that way it’s not as daunting when I open it up, and also, it means I’m taking care of what needs to be done and moving on. For a while I was hovering around 30 items, but 25 was my goal. Today I got it down to 11 messages, so I think for a while I’m going to set my goal at 15. It’s manageable, but not clearing it out to zero (there are some things that just have to wait and be taken care of later).

Quick update for everyone. I saw a squirrel while driving to work this morning...which means spring is really on its way!

IHOP is running a promotion where they are serving, among other things, green eggs and ham (to go with Horton hears a Who). The closest IHOP is outside of Youngstown, or if we were to go in a different direction, and one more mile, there is one in Morgantown. I'm very tempted to put a mini road trip together (stupid price of gas)

As the political pundits and marketing people were calling it, mini-Tuesday has come and went, and now Pennsylvania is about to be thrust onto the national spotlight. A few thoughts: first, Wyoming’s primaries were next, but as I’ve said before, the state doesn’t exist. It’s cool to think that Pennsylvania is going to be in the national spotlight, hooray for being relevant! I’m not looking forward to the seemingly endless campaigning, the inevitable traffic tie-ups and the barrage of ads we’ll be seeing. And of course, I don’t get to vote (unless there is some sort of referendum or something, but as of yet, I haven’t heard anything. Last primary I got to vote on a housing issue, but that was it), so I’ll wait until the general election.

A report came out discussing the pay of the bloggers at Gawker media. For those that don’t know, Gawker is a network of blogs, covering tech news, celebrity news and all other sorts of stuff. Lifehacker is one of them, and by far my favorite in the Gawker media network (too much emphasis on celebrities, but I guess people like to read that kind of stuff). So the bloggers are paid based on how many views their articles receive (which led to some interesting situations, or really, some bloggers trying to exploit the system by stating outlandish lies to get reactions from CEOs and get media attention…as reported by Ragan).

I believe that they get $7.15 for every 1,000 views, and their benchmark is to get 650,000 views a month. If they hit their benchmark, it works out to something like $60,000 a year, which for blogging is good money, heck, for just about anything is good money. I don’t know how often they hit their goal or how close they get.

Oh, in fun, related news, in January, I got enough traffic at my website to almost use all of my bandwidth! It was pretty cool actually, it died down a bit in February, but I blame that on the short month and my lack of posting due to the leader guides (they eat away at my life!).

And lastly, a story from my commute this morning. I’m driving down past Mercy Hospital and there is a stop sign. Now, at these signs, you stop. As the sign says to do. So I stop, but the lady behind me, in a rush, decides that I shouldn’t have, and she start flailing about and yelling at me. So, being the courteous driver that I was, as we entered a few blocks of one-lane, one-way streets, I went about five miles and hour (granted, we would have had to stop anyway for the red lights, so she really didn’t lose any time). She peeled away from me on fifth, only to have to stop due to a fire truck. Karma is wonderful!

I had a nectarine the other day with lunch, and it was very nice! Almost felt like summertime again! It reminded me of when I was at Advancement Camp at Twin Echo (the second time, in 1999) and one of the kids in my patrol had never even heard of a nectarine. Every day at lunch I would have to remind him of what it was called, but he loved them, and so do I! The one I had was harder, and I typically like them riper, when they’re really juicy, but it was still good nonetheless.

Microsoft hired CP+B for a new (rumored) $100 million, consumer-focused ad campaign for Vista (at least I think it was Vista, it might have been more general though). CP+B is probably my favorite ad shop, mostly because do such awesome (and creepy) stuff, and really promote themselves and their corporate culture. CP+B are the ones who brought us The Burger King by the way. Will this mean we’ll see some creepy or post-modernistic advertising from Microsoft, probably not, but it will still be interesting to see, and to especially watch the media buy.

Westinghouse CEO Steve Tritch is retiring. I worked very close (in terms of proximity) to Steve when I was at Westinghouse, and I really did like working with him. Once, he even congratulated me on doing a really good job (the remote control car race), so it’s sad for me to see him go. Aris is taking his place and he’ll stay on as the chairman of the board, but we’ll probably see him involved in the area somehow, I don’t think he’ll be one to remain sedentary in his retirement.

Monday I had lunch outside, and it was wonderful! It was really windy, and the sun was shining, the temperature was great and it was so nice to not be cooped up inside. I took my lunch out to a little half wall we have in front of the building and the flag poles, and I ate as I watched the people and cars go by. I’m thinking I’ll just stow my camp chair in the back of my car to have with me for when the weather gets nice again.

I hope everyone had a great leap day! And of course, since it is now March, I celebrated with a Shamrock Shake!

Now, let's play a game: Guess how long it took Mike to get home from work yesterday:a) Just under two hoursb) Around 115 minutesc) One and a half CDs, and a bunch of random songs on the radiod) Long enough to make Mike want to stab himself in the eye over and over and over and over and over again with a rusty spork

Hehehe, yeah, that blew.

It looks as though there will be a Family Guy spin-off, "Cleveland." Check out the news here.

So remember how excited I was about Quarterlife: it got canceled after one show. NBC is now as bad as Fox. It looks like it will be heading to Bravo later this year, so that is something, and thankfully Dirt starts on Sunday, but I'm still ticked, it was a good show, and what gives, only one show before pulling it!

I sent my Wii out for repairs (it was sounding loud for some reason), and being under warranty, Nintendo fixed it for free. It is coming back this week (in time for Smash Bros.!) but I went online to check the status and this is what is is technically called:"CONSOLE ASSY WHITE RVL"My Wii has an assy! I don't know what an assy is! Maybe it's just a small ass, or a cute ass? New word to add to the vernacular everyone: assy. Leave a comment with your best definition of it.